Something to Fear.  What Comes After.  March to War.  These are the names of the three latest volumes on the shelf of Robert Kirkman’s The Walking Dead comic.  The names themselves are fairly cryptic, marking some of what I’ve read to be incredible set ups to The Walking Dead’s most memorable villain since the Governor.  Almost two years ago, I got my first two comic books for Christmas: The Walking Dead Compendium Volumes 1 & 2.  They were both 1000 pages long, and I absolutely crushed through them in a manner of a week.  The Walking Dead holds a close place in my heart as the first comic I’ve read and has recently inspired madness in collecting as many comics and graphic novels as possible.

It was very fitting that two years later on Christmas 2013, I obtained the three recent volumes of the The Walking Dead after the 2nd Compendium ended on.  I finally got around to finishing these three and I got so gleeful that I simply had to write about all the feelings I’m feeling.

• An incredible new villain
• More dying of favorite characters
• Introduction and Reinforcement of Awesome Newer Characters
• New revelations

So below are summaries and feelings of what I’ve been reading through.

Major Spoilers of The Walking Dead Comic Series to Follow

You’ve been warned.

Previously on the Walking Dead…

The zombie herd that invaded the Alexandria Safe-Zone has been cleared due to Rick’s leadership.  In the process, Rick lost his love interest and her kid while Carl lost his eye.  Andrea has become Rick’s lady companion noting that the two of them are survivors [I’m 100% into this, I love Rick X Andrea].  A mysterious man named Jesus shows Rick and his group that there are other communities in the area that are willing to trade and live peacefully with.  With nothing material to trade for their shortage of supplies, Rick is willing to trade his group’s battle experience to kill a racketeer that is holding communities in the area hostage who goes by the name Negan.  Little does Rick know, Negan is on a whole other level he had not anticipated…

Volume 17: Something to Fear

my god…

In volume 17, Rick comes into contact with a group of Negan’s henchmen who they quick dispatch thinking there would be no consequences.  As he goes home to explain the deal he sets up with the group, the community is hesitant but willing to go to war for the sake supplies.  When Rick decides to go back to Jesus’s community, he gets ambushed by Negan and his followers.  The first moment we meet Negan we see him as large, psychotic figure.  Outgunned and outmanned, Negan takes his pick for revenge by killing someone in the group with Rick.

This is where the feels start rolling in.  During this, we get a first glimpse into Negan’s psyche.  We find him socially but dysfunctionally logical when choosing his victim.  His thought process of “Can’t kill the black guy, that’s racist, can’t kill the mother because that’s not right, won’t kill the kid because she’s too young, can’t kill the asian guy, that’s also racist…” is haunting and hair raising.  He eventually throws his hands up in the air in faux frustration and proceeds to play eenie meenie miney moe.  When his trusty, barbed wire bat he names Lucille lands on Glenn…well, let’s just say it was some of the most brutal pages I’ve had the misfortune to read.  Tyrese’s beheading wasn’t near as brutal as the skull caving of Glenn, and the light in Maggie and Sophia’s eyes go dark as they hear the smashing of Glenn’s face.

After forcing Rick to watch the brutal killing of his friend, Negan points out that he’s a reasonable guy, only repaying the debt of Rick killing some of his guys.  Negan forces Rick into agreeing to paying tribute to him.  A seemingly broken Rick hesitantly agrees, forcing the remaining group to return back to the Alexandria Safe-Zone with their tails between their legs.  He tells the group that they’re planning on paying tribute to Negan, and a lot of the community has issues with caving into such an awful man.  Little do they know, Rick has something up his sleeve…

In this volume, we see an excited and hopeful Rick become broken by a new villain Negan.  Rick had honestly believed that meeting new communities paved the way to regular civilization resuming order, but Negan’s presence has reminded him that they live in a world still dominated by the guy with the biggest bat.  Rick’s plan to go to war was bolstered by the fact that Eugene had the ability to make bullets, something all communities are running out of.  It was neat to see other communities adapting with spears, swords, and the like in response to the lack of bullets.  Other character deaths like Abraham was also sad and the book was sprinkled with character drama and relationships.

All in all this volume was an excellent introduction to a character more hate-worthy than The Governor.  As much as it was easy to hate Negan, he quickly becomes a more complex and interesting character in volume 18: What Comes After.  That being said, I still hate him [Glenn never hurt anyone…].

Volume 18: What Comes After

What comes after was incredibly Negan centered.  When Negan’s group comes by to pick up their first tribute from Rick’s group, Negan’s worthwhile rationale characterizes how he has made it so far in this world.  He doesn’t strip Rick’s group of all their food, quoting that if they leave Rick’s group completely crippled, they can’t work for him.  A strange but logical decision that separates the mindless and overly brutal leaders that don’t last long vs. the smart, but still brutal leaders that have made it this far.  Thing get even more interesting when Carl sneaks onto one of Negan’s trucks to open fire on some of Negan’s men when he arrives back at his base.

Negan catches Carl, and you can’t help but fear for what Negan will do to him.  As Negan walks with Carl throughout his base, we’re given a very good glance at the set up Negan has in his community.  It surprisingly isn’t a meat factory lead by cold hearted bandits that one would think.  There are families inside, with children that don’t seem to be forced to stay there or in clear forms of slavery.  Negan’s group works on a point system that shocks you that it hints his process might be somewhat fair, making Negan appear to be a reasonable man.  Feelings begin to become conflicted, because you hate him for killing Glenn, but it’s clear that he’s not an entire monster.  Especially with how he treats Carl in the following pages.

this guy. Sweet jeebus, this guy.

Negan sits Carl down, talking about how important it is to have ‘balls’ and how brave he was to gun down all those men.  He taunts Carl continuously, telling him that his punishment has yet to be doled out.  When the punishment is finally revealed, he asks Carl to reveal his eye, laughing hysterically at it at first glance.  As Carl begins to cry, Negan straightens his face telling Carl to man up and be proud of his scar and all of the things he’s seen.  It’s pretty incredible how personable Negan has become, giving reason to his brutality and shows his reasonableness so far.  Negan’s community isn’t exactly perfect, but it’s not the brutal dictatorship one would believe out of a clear villain.

When Negan meets with Rick to talk about Carl, Rick begins to act violently, assuming the absolutely worst things that Negan has done to Carl.  Negan gets the upper hand and pins Rick to the ground, showing himself to be the only one with rationale given the situation.  He only killed Glenn to revenge his men, he left enough food and supplies during his tribute to keep Rick’s group functional, and he returned Rick’s son to him completely unharmed despite, and these are his words, “letting my men run a train on your little boy”.  He reiterates that he is a reasonable man and he needs Rick to see that for the situation to work out.  Rick nods in agreement with his son back in his arms.

Volume 18 was a very Negan centered volume and I think it was incredible to see how other communities work.  Negan’s ‘code’ or whatever you want to call it has been rationalized in this volume, and you as the reader can’t help see that sometimes Negan isn’t always the worst (but he still can be).

Also, meeting Ezekiel and the Kingdom was pretty much aweseome.  Oh yeah and Ezekiel has a freaking tiger!  In the last couple of panels, Rick learns that they have a mole in Negan’s operation and the three communities allying themselves against Negan was an incredible way to set up the next volume: March to War.

Volume 19: March to War

something the real Jesus and Paul could have in common: catching spears mid flight.

With an alliance between the Alexandria Safe-Zone, the Hilltop, and the Kingdom, Rick decides that warriors from each community need to be trained properly.  Rick lets a number of people in on the plan, a noticeable reaction from Michonne, who is tired of killing and wants to hang up her sword for good.

On the Hilltop there are two very interesting moments.  The first one is where Maggie mourns Glenn and she gets comforted by a Briana, a wise mother who has also lost a lot.  She has an interesting monologue where the norm of mourning for someone is identifiable by just about everyone.  Also,  Jesus on the Hilltop get in a bit of trouble.  When Jesus let’s one of the guards in on the plan, they get tangled up in almost letting Negan know that the communities are gearing up for war.

Whe Rick’s group tavels to the Kingdom, they end up having dinner at Ezekiel’s.  It’s here where we get more character development on the eccentric Ezekiel.  His leadership methods are questioned, where his seemingly grandiose manner is justified when we get some of his backstory.  Also, backstory on the tiger.

The Monroe incident is where things really got interesting.  While Rick is out training the new soldiers, Negan takes a trip to the Alexandria Safe Zone where he stirs up some trouble.  Some of the biggest conflict I’ve felt in a while is when Negan is confronted by someone who wants to take over by eliminating Rick.  Instead of Negan also plotting against Rick, Negan does something awesomely unexpected: he kills the guy, immediately recognizing Rick is necessary for the Alexandria Safe Zone to survive.  It’s hard to determine if Negan was in the total wrong here, because that guy who plotted against Rick was kind of a prick.  But I guess Negan did bash Glenn’s skull in….So many conflicted feelings.

Rick is naturally outraged by this when he returns and even quickly organizes a militia to attempt to kill Negan.  When Negan reveals he has troops of his own hidden, Rick and co. find themselves in a tight spot.  A lot of F bombs are thrown, people are almost killed, but Jesus comes to save the day!

Also Ezekiel’s Tiger:

herrrrr meh gawdddd

It’s after this that both sides realize they’re going to war.  I can’t be excited enough.

Volume 20: All Out War Part 1

Volume 20. All Out War Part 1 is released this March.  For the first time, I’m going to be out there in the front lines [by this, I mean my Amazon Cart will be ready], picking up the book day 1 to read what happens!

So let me know what you guys think of Negan, a controversial and definitely ‘more than meets the eye’ villain.

the monster trio will never die. NEVER DIE.